Daddy's Little Helper
by ClinicDuty101
Summary: Imogen has graduated as a Nurse Practitioner and she's coming home to New Jersey. Cuddy has imployed her to work in paediatrics. House and Cuddy are now in their 9th year of marriage and Imogen has a secret of her own which House doesn't know about.
1. Graduation Day

Daddy's Little Helper

Graduation Day

**It's Saturday!! And here it is the start of the third part! Idea one was chosen by most of you...although quite a few of you decided that you liked idea 2 last night lol. Happy reading!**

Imogen House was holding a certificate in her hand which stated that she had graduated Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. This meant that she could now practice as a nurse practitioner in the paediatrics department; at this point she couldn't be happier.

Her father, half-brother and step-mother were to arrive in Baltimore anytime soon and she would be receiving a phone call from Noah within the next hour. Anna wasn't available to come and see Imogen as she was on holiday in Corfu, but it wasn't like she spoke to her anymore anyway.

As soon as Imogen had turned eighteen she had moved into House's apartment with Cuddy and decided her future with her father. They agreed on attending Johns Hopkins but Imogen made her point clear that she wanted to go into nursing not doctoring.

_"What do you mean you want to be a nurse?" House asked when Imogen had announced her decision._

"_I want to help people, but if becoming a doctor means I'll turn out with your bedside manner, than I really don't want to be a doctor." She replied as she looked at the prospectus._

_"But think of the money you'd make. Screw having people skills, it's all about the money..." __and then in an undertone he added__ "...and the women."_

_Imogen rolled her eyes and flicked onto the next page._

_"I don't care what you think. Nurses are as capable as doctors...maybe even better."_

_House snorted at this remark._

_"Nurses__ are__ better than doctors? You've __gotta__ be joking."_

_"__If there weren't any nurses w__ould you be the one going round and giving your patients all their m__edicines and tending to their needs__ every day?"_

_"__I don't think so." House replied "I'm__ too busy to be attending to their needs. All I need to focus on is what's wrong with the idiot and how to fix them."_

_"No humanity there. Your closest friends are diseases not people."_

_"__Wilson__'s my friend__."_

_"Uncle James doesn't count. Apart from him who do you call__ a__ friend?"_

_"Chase, Foreman?"_

_"You've been abusing them since before I was born, I don't think they'd call you friend, actually I'm surprised Uncle James still calls you friend."_

_"__Unc__Jame__?" __Asked a two year old Toby._

_House and Cuddy had managed to have a baby within a year of their marriage._

_Toby House looked exactly like his father yet he was developing a personality like his mother. He tended to get distressed easily and frequently told his father 'no' when he__ saw him__ popping a Vicodin pill._

_"Uncle James isn't here __Tobe__." Replied Imogen as she picked Toby up and placed him on her lap._

_Toby nodded in understanding and started to play with a strand of Imogen's blonde hair.__It was now past her shoulders and reached half way down her chest, so it was easily accessible for Toby to play with._

_"So what's Noah__ going to be __doing__ now you've both finished High School__?" House asked._

_"He's going to work in his cousin's restaurant. Damn that guy of mine can cook."_

_"Maybe we should all go there before you go to Baltimore." House suggested._

_"Are you going to miss __me__ dad?"_

_"Of course not."__ House replied as he turned away from his daughter. A lump was starting to form in his throat._

_Imogen stood up and was balancing Toby on her hip._

_"I'm gonna miss you all. This is like__ seven years of my life away from you all. I __dunno__ how I'm gonna cope."_

_House gave into his softer side and hugged Imogen and Toby._

_"I'm gonna miss you like hell__." H__e replied._

_Cuddy walked in to observe her family in a huge hug._

_"Did I miss something important?" she asked them._

_Imogen turned to her with tears in her eyes. "Only that I'm gonna miss you guys a whole lot."_

The door of her apartment was knocked upon and Imogen was roused from her thoughts of the day she'd told her family she was going to miss them.

When she opened the door she saw a nine year old Toby standing in front of her.

"Tobe!" she said as she pulled him into a gigantic hug.

"Happy graduation." He replied as he handed her a small present. "I brought it with my pocket money."

"Thanks." Imogen smiled as she ripped the paper off revealing a CD of her favourite band. "Where are Dad and Lisa?"

"Mom and Dad are coming; they brought Uncle James, Aunt Leanne and Joseph along."

"Sounds like a family gathering." Imogen laughed.

"Joseph wouldn't let me play with his PSP." Toby pouted.

"Well you can go watch the TV." Imogen told him as she saw the rest of them trundling through the outdoors hallway. As soon as she saw House she shouted "Dad!"

House looked up and saw his grown up daughter waving from her doorway, it brought a smile to his face.

"Emo! Have you done something to yourself? You look different." House asked her as he approached Imogen.

"Nothing's changed." She smiled as everyone else passed them into Imogen's apartment, they all knew it was daddy/daughter time and that was not to be disturbed.

They hugged for a moment and broke apart, as Imogen looked into her father's eyes, she knew now House was here that it felt like she was back home already.

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	2. A Secret Engagement

A Secret Engagement

**I know this looks like a double installment today, but it's Sunday over here so meh...anyway...read on...**

When Noah arrived at Imogen's apartment door the adults were all slightly tipsy whereas the children were now fast asleep on Imogen's bed.

"Hey gorgeous." Noah greeted his girlfriend as he kissed her on the lips.

They heard an 'aww.' from Cuddy and Leanne in the front room, whilst House avoided having to look at his daughter showing affection towards her boyfriend.

"Hello you." She said as she kissed him back. "How was the ride down?"

"As always. Long and boring, but you were totally worth it." He gave a boyish grin "As always."

"You coming in or what?" House shouted in a somewhat drunken stupor.

"I'm coming Doctor House." He shouted back as he shook his head and walked into the apartment.

Cuddy and Leanne were spread across the sofa giggling amongst each other, whilst Wilson and House were sitting at the table playing a very slow game of cards.

Apart from Noah who obviously hadn't been drinking, Imogen was still sober. She looked upon her family and smiled.

"I guess it's gonna be like this when I move back to New Jersey."

"Sure is. Unless you wanna move in." Noah suggested.

"Move in?" Imogen asked as her breath caught in her throat.

"Yeah. I've been thinking about it since the last time I came to see you and it just seems logical. We've been going out nine years now and I just feel like I've spent enough time away from you, now you've got a job back home, I feel as if I don't want to be without you anymore."

Imogen took his hand in her own and smiled.

"Sure. I think it's about time."

"That's great." Noah smiled back. Unconsciously he put his hand into his jean pocket and fiddled with a box that was lying inside, soon he was going to produce this box to Imogen but he had to wait until he could get her on her own.

Another hour passed and the adults had finally passed out from their excessive drinking, Imogen snuck into her bedroom and produced three blankets.

She draped one over Cuddy and Leanne, one over House and one over Wilson. Both of the men were snoring away on their chairs against the table, Wilson had sprawled himself across the dining table and was snoring more lightly than House was.

"Wanna go out to the balcony?" Noah asked Imogen "We might have some peace and quiet to ourselves."

"Yeah, I love sitting out on the balcony during the night."

"Remember the last time I was here? We spent the whole night out there."

"Yeah, I also remember having a frozen ass in the morning as well. I stood near the cooker for about half an hour before I could feel my ass cheeks again. "

"Oh yeah." Noah laughed as they entered the night-time air. "I was in the bathroom trying to retain the feeling in my penis."

"That was a wonderful night." Imogen remembered. "There was immaturity, romance, passion..." but she stopped as she saw Noah's posture stiffen. "You ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine." He replied shakily. "I just need a minute or so."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, seriously." He was digging deep into his jean pocket now.

"Noah, stop it. You're getting me worried, you're not feeling ill or anything because I can get dad or someone..."

"Imogen just shut up a moment will you?" Noah snapped as he went down onto bended knee. "Imogen House, will you do the honour of marrying me?"

Imogen stood there speechless, she wasn't sure if her body had gone into shock or if it was the cold night air, but her body had chosen to stiffen up.

"Imogen?"

"I...er...wow..." she stuttered.

"A yes or no answer would do."

"Yes, of course I will." She beamed as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I thought today would be as good a day as any." He told her "You're starting your future and I thought why not start it with me?"

"This is the best day a girl could ask for." She broke away from him though "Could we keep this a secret though? Just until I'm working at least a week or so."

"Why?"

"Because I know dad's going to give me a hard time at work because I'm a nurse, I don't want him putting me off you or something as well."

"Does he not like me or something? I thought after nine years he might have a shred of niceness towards me."

"Have you seen Cameron, Chase or Foreman recently? They've known him longer than you and I don't think he's been nice to them ever."

"There must've been one time." Noah argued.

"There might've been, but I've been away."

"People do change Imogen."

"I know they do, but I'm hoping I haven't changed, I'm hoping this whole thing won't change me."

"Are you getting cold feet already? We've only been engaged for like a minute."

"Sorry. I sometimes speak too much of my mind. You of all people should know that."

"Like when you told my cousin that a monkey could wait on you better than him?"

"Exactly." Imogen smiled as she wrapped her arms around Noah's neck. "Now today has totally worn me out, how about you?"

"Ditto. So where we gonna sleep?"

"Here seems as good a place as any." Imogen said to him.

They lay against the balcony floor and looked out to the sky.

"Goodnight fiancé." Noah said.

"Goodnight fiancé." She replied.

_"Boy that felt weird." _Imogen thought. _"Oh my God. I'm engaged, what have I done?"_

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	3. Second Thoughts

Second Thoughts

**Come on...3 reviews for the previous chapter? Did you all hate it or something? Hopefully you'll review this one a little better...please?**

It was now a week later since Imogen's graduation and she'd kept to her word and moved in with Noah.

They hadn't seen much of each other since they'd moved all her stuff in. This was because Imogen worked during the day and Noah worked the night shifts, by the time he got back from work Imogen was sprawled out on the sofa with her paperwork littered all over the coffee table where she'd try to keep herself up so that she could see him.

It was now Friday morning and she made her way into work, she hadn't seen her dad all of this week which meant that he must have a case of his own, in some ways she was glad that he was busy which meant he wasn't mocking her job, but in other ways she missed him.

Imogen also desperately needed someone to talk to about her engagement, she had started having second thoughts as soon as she tried to get to sleep the night of her graduation and thoughts of her future kept turning into frequent nightmares.

She feared that when she was finally married she was going to become a totally different person, Imogen felt as soon as she had the ring and had uttered the words 'I do' she was going to turn into something from 'The Stepford Wives'.

All Imogen could think about was her mother's marriage to Richard and how she was totally consumed by him. There wasn't a time in her life where she'd seen her mother detach herself from Richard for less than half a day and Imogen began to wonder...was she going to turn out like that? Was she going to become one of those women who couldn't be independent anymore?

Imogen was so lost in her thoughts she hadn't realised she was now parked in her hospital space. She stared absentmindedly at her engagement ring and gave out a long sigh; she'd have to put these fears on hold whilst she did her job. At least when she was working she could forget everything and just focus what was wrong with other people.

That was another reason why she was glad that she hadn't seen her father this week, because as soon as he saw her daydreaming he'd be able to figure out that something was wrong with her and demand to know what was going on. She didn't need him encouraging her to bottle out of it.

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Imogen glanced at the clock that was sitting on her office table and felt her stomach growl, from past experiences she knew that she'd have to eat something before her blood sugar levels fell, all she'd need now is to faint and have a lecture from her dad, Lisa and James on how she should take more care of herself and to eat at regular intervals during the day blah, blah, blah.

She picked up the receiver and spoke to her secretary.

"Have I got anyone else to see?" she asked.

"No you haven't Miss House. Your next appointment is at one, unless we have an emergency come in."

"Page me if that happens please Melissa. I'm going on my lunch break. Do you want anything?"

"A cheese sandwich would be nice if you don't mind."

"No problem. I'll be back soon."

As she entered the canteen Imogen saw that it was as busy as ever. She spotted House's Ducklings sitting in the corner talking amongst themselves; Imogen suspected that House would be coming in soon if he wasn't here already.

She scanned the canteen quickly and was satisfied that he was nowhere to be seen.

"Miss House?" asked a voice from behind her. She turned and saw a good-looking male doctor standing with an outstretched hand. "I'm Doctor Hunter, I work in paediatrics. I've been looking over your work and I have to say you're doing an outstanding job. You've only been here...a week is it?"

"Yes it has." She smiled as her cheeks started to blush. "I didn't know that doctors took an interest in their nurse practitioners work."

"Usually I don't. But I kept seeing satisfied patients leaving your office and I had to check and see."

"Well thank you Doctor Hunter."

"No thank you Miss House."

"You can call me Imogen."

"So you're House's daughter? I just assumed you had the same last name, I didn't suspect that you two were related."

"Yeah, I'm his daughter."

"I would've thought you would've become a doctor like him."

"Doctoring didn't appeal to me." Imogen admitted and then looked into Doctor Hunter's eyes. His eyes were the darkest shade of green; it reminded her of that Harry Potter character in the books she used to read when she was younger.

"It's not for all of us." He smiled back as he took in every contour of her face; Doctor Hunter had to admit that she was as attractive as she was smart. He was defiantly going to have to take her to dinner sometime. "Oh, where are my manners." He apologised. "I'm Chris."

"Well nice meeting you Chris." Imogen said as she shook his hand and paid for her and Melissa's food. "I've gotta be getting back, keeping up my so called good work."

"I'll check up on you later if that's ok."

"That should be fine." And Imogen hurried back to her office, she still had another half hour before her next appointment.

"Melissa." She said as soon as she saw her secretary. "What do you know about Doctor Hunter?"

"Well if you don't mind me saying, every woman on this floor fancies the hell out of him. He works in the paediatric ward, best doctor there in my opinion. If I had a child who was ill I'd ask for him to treat them."

Melissa seemed to go into some sort of daze and Imogen thought it best to leave her to her thoughts, she entered her office and took a bite out of her sandwich.

"Hmmm." She thought aloud. "So all the women like him then. I suppose he isn't bad looking and he sounds like he's a good doctor."

_"__All this sound good if you wanted to date him, b__ut you're taken."_ Said a little voice inside.

"I do not want to date him!"

_"Of course you don't."_ The voice replied sceptically. _"You didn't give him your best smile and blush like a little schoolgirl when he mentioned how good your work was."_

"It was flattering, what else was I supposed to do?"

_"Thank him and then leave. You didn't have to stand around telling practically your life story."_

"I did no such thing."

_"My name's Imogen, I'm House's daughter, I didn't want to become a doctor..."_ the voice mocked her.

"I was just introducing myself." She retaliated.

"You ok Miss House?" asked Melissa. "I can hear you talking to yourself."

"Sorry Melissa, crisis of conscience." She apologised.

"Your first patient is due any minute."

"Oh crap." Imogen said as she tried to eat the rest of her sandwich as soon as she could, she just ended up feeling sick and was gasping for something to drink.

Before she could move her patient entered the office.

"Joseph, Leanne? What are you doing here?" Imogen asked in surprise.

"I think Joseph's had an allergic reaction to some shampoo I brought." Leanne replied as she sat on a chair opposite Imogen's desk.

"Let's take a look at you." Imogen said to Joseph has he hopped up onto her examining table. "Is your head feeling itchy?"

"Yeah." He replied as he scratched behind his ears.

"Where does it itch? All over?"

"Yeah."

"Ok." She said as she put on some plastic gloves and started looking at his scalp. "Well I don't see any rash on here..."

She then looked behind his ears and saw that they were red.

"Aha." She said "Joe. It looks like you've got head lice."

"Oh great." He said sarcastically.

"You'll be needing a very strong shampoo and a lice comb." Imogen told Leanne as she removed her gloves from her hands.

"Thanks Imogen." Leanne said as she helped Joseph off the table. "Let's go and see your dad, see if he isn't busy." Leanne then turned back to Imogen. "You haven't seen James today have you?"

"No I haven't" Imogen replied. "But I've only been outside the office once, and that was to get some lunch."

"Oh, ok then, well have a nice rest of your day."

"See you later."

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Imogen had finally finished working at seven in the evening, the night nurse practitioner was coming in so Imogen could go home and get some sleep.

"Is your replacement here yet?" Imogen asked Melissa as she exited her office.

"Not yet Miss House."

"Do you want a lift home?"

"If you don't mind."

"Well when your replacement comes, gimmie a page and I'll be down in a jiffy. I'm gonna go see what my dad's up to."

Imogen found House walking towards the lift as the door opened.

"Hey dad." She smiled.

"I was just coming to see you." He said giving her a hug as the doors closed. He didn't want anyone else to see his soft side; they might think that he had a nice side to his personality.

"How's your case?" Imogen asked.

"How did you know I had one?"

"I'm a House remember? I know these types of things."

"Yeah, I forgot that you'd inherited my psychic abilities."

"So how's it going?"

"Tiring. We thought it was cancer but it wasn't, then we thought it was scar tissue and then it wasn't. We just keep hitting brick walls."

"You'll get there in the end, I know you will."

"Hopefully before they die."

"Didn't anyone tell you there's something called optimism? You should try it once in a while."

"Optimism is for people who don't live in the real world. We all need to think that the worst is going to happen otherwise we'd all be going round thinking like Cameron."

"Have you seen your wife today?" Imogen asked changing the subject, they'd hit the bottom floor and were walking towards her office.

"Just going now." He replied.

As House burst into Cuddy's office, Imogen saw that she was already talking to another doctor.

"Get out." She said to House as her eye contact remained on the other doctor. "Let me finish this."

"Whatever you say sex kitten." House replied playfully. He knew that Cuddy hated being called her nicknames at work; she always received a disgusted look from the person she was trying to talk to.

"It's ok Doctor Cuddy." Replied a familiar voice. "There wasn't much more to say anyway." The doctor turned around and Imogen smiled as she saw it was Doctor Hunter.

The voice in her head came back.

_"Was that smile supposed to be for him?"_

**_"What smile?"_** Imogen replied to the voice inside her head.

_"The one you just flashed at him idiot."_

_**"I did not flash a smile at him."**_

_"You did."_

"Imogen!" House shouted as he roused Imogen from her inward battle.

"Oh, sorry." She replied as she blushed even more.

"Oh, this is interesting..." House said smiling as if he was the cat that had gotten the cream. "Have you met him before?"

"Yeah." Imogen squeaked. She knew her dad was going to side with the voice inside her head. "We met at lunch."

"He was just in here singing your praises." Cuddy said with a sly smile of her own.

"I think there's an attraction between you two." House said "But aren't you supposed to be happily in love with Noah?"

"I have no attraction to Chris whatsoever." Imogen defended herself.

"Oh Chris now is it? I didn't know you two were on first name basis and especially after meeting him...where was it? At lunch?" House teased.

Luckily for Imogen, House's pager bleeped.

"We'll continue this later." He said pointing an index finger towards her face.

When he'd left the room, Cuddy leant back in her chair.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" she asked.

Imogen brought her left hand up to her forehead as if she were getting a headache when Cuddy spotted the ring on Imogen's finger.

"Is that an engagement ring?" Cuddy asked in surprise.

Imogen brought her hand down sharply and looked at the desk rather than at Cuddy.

"Yeah. Noah proposed a week ago, at my graduation."

"And you've been hiding it from me and your dad?"

"I didn't want to. But I didn't want the stress of starting this job and the prospect of a wedding weighing me down."

"There's something else isn't there?" Cuddy asked as her intuition kicked in.

"I'm not sure if I want to get married. When Noah asked all I could think of was saying yes, but when it started to sink in I wasn't so sure. I'm worried that when I get married I'm going to change."

"Change into what?" Cuddy asked leaning forward.

"I'm afraid I'll change into my mother."

"You think that when you get married you're going to change into Anna?"

"Yeah, what if Noah becomes my everything and I lose my independence? I don't want to be a woman who's dependent on her husband for everything."

"That's not going to happen Imogen."

"What if it does?" she asked now frightened. "What if I lose you, dad, Toby, Uncle James...everyone, because I'm too wrapped up in my husband? My mother totally ignored me because she was more interested in pleasing Richard than taking an interest in me."

"Have you talked to Noah about this?"

"We haven't had the time. He's been working evening shifts and when he gets in I'm already asleep."

"How about I give you a day off on Sunday? You'll be able to talk your problems out."

"You can't give me a day off. I've only been working a week."

"You can't keep carrying on like this. All this stress will stop you from doing your job and how would it look if I fired my own step-daughter?" Cuddy smiled.

Imogen's pager bleeped notifying her that Melissa's replacement had arrived.

"Thanks Lisa." Imogen smiled "You've been the mother I never had and I'd like to say thanks for all the support you've given me over the years."

"You're like my own daughter Imogen. All I wanna do is see you happy."

"Oh, before I go. Please don't tell anyone about the engagement." Imogen asked with a pleading face.

"My lips are sealed." Cuddy replied with a smile as she waved her step-daughter off.

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Imogen got home and was relaxing on the sofa when her pager went off again, sighing she got up and looked at who it was. She thought it might've been House taunting her about Doctor Hunter again but she was mistaken.

_If you're not busy after work tomo__rrow would you like to go out for a drink?_

Imogen sat confused and lay back down on the sofa, within moments she fell asleep still thinking about the page that she'd received. Imogen knew that tomorrow she'd find out who the culprit was and set them straight about her romantic situation.

**Can I please have at least 8 reviews for this chapter or I'm just gonna stop writing this all together...**

**I know it's horrible but i need them to write people!!!**

**Review (pretty) please?**


	4. House of Drama

House of Drama

**Right, I took note of all your reviews and this chapter is Imogen-free as most of you felt that i was including her a lil too much. So this chapter is based around mainly Cuddy and Toby with a lil House thrown in at the end for the fluffy moments.**

Cuddy returned home at eight after collecting Toby from the sitter, he was sitting in the back of the car playing on his gameboy and making no noise at all.

When they returned home he went up to bed and Cuddy lay on the sofa with a glass of wine in front of her, House would be coming home soon as she'd paged him offering sex which would get him home in a shot.

As her eyes began to close she heard her son scream out in pain.

"Mom!"

Cuddy's eyes snapped open and she ran into Toby's room.

"What's wrong honey?" she asked.

"My head." He whimpered. "It hurts."

"Ok honey." She said feeling his forehead; he did feel a little warm. "I'll get you some water."

She returned with a glass of ice cold water and switched Toby's bedroom light on, he ended up screaming out in pain again.

"Turn it off! It hurts!" tears were streaming from Toby's blue eyes, he raised his arm to shield his eyes from the beams of light and Cuddy spotted a rash on his arm.

She rushed out of his room and grabbed an empty glass from the cabinet, she came back in Toby's room and her hands were shaking, if the glass test worked than her son had developed meningitis.

"Hold your arm out for me Tobe." She said more calmly than she felt.

Toby obediently held out his arm for his mother to examine, she rolled the glass over his skin and the rash didn't fade away.

"We need to go to the hospital." She told him.

"Yes mom." Toby replied looking frightened.

"You'll be fine. I promise." Cuddy said flashing a fake smile, inside her insides were squirming.

They got to the hospital and Cuddy quickly paced along to the paediatrics floor, Toby was half jogging along behind her shielding his eyes still.

They got to the reception in the paediatric ward and found a man at the desk.

"Doctor Cuddy?" he asked straightening up. "Why are you here?"

"My son has meningitis, where's Doctor Hunter?"

"He's gone home but should I page him?"

"Meningitis is classed as fatal so I think you should!" Cuddy shouted unable to control herself.

The secretary hurried paged Dr. Hunter and Cuddy became irritable again.

"So do you think my son is going to be treated whilst he's standing here or are you going to get him a bed?!"

"Yes Doctor Cuddy." He said leading the way down the ward. There was a bed close to the hospital foyer which the secretary lead them to. "I'll go and see if Dr. Hunter is on his way." And then he ran back to his desk.

"Right honey." Cuddy said in her calm voice "I want you to dress into this gown." She said handing it to Toby. "I'll just pull the curtain. Call me if you need help."

"My head still hurts." He said.

"I know honey." Cuddy replied from outside the curtain "that's why we're here, to make the headache stop."

"Where's dad?"

"I'll get him as soon as Doctor Hunter comes. I just need to keep an eye on you for now."

"What are they going to do to make me better?"

"They're going to have to confirm you have it first."

"How do they do that?"

"They'll have to put a needle into your spine so they can take some fluid to confirm you have meningitis."

"Will it hurt?"

"No." She smiled as she played with the front of his hair "They'll numb it with local anaesthetic."

Dr Hunter arrived looking hurried.

"I came as fast as I could." He said as he adopted his stethoscope around his neck. "Rico at the desk said that it could be meningitis."

"That's what I suspect." Cuddy said to him showing a hint of vulnerability in her eyes. She took him aside and said with a cracking voice "He'll be alright won't he?"

"If we've caught it in time he should be fine. Now go get House, you probably haven't got round to telling him yet." He smiled "Too busy screaming the halls down I hear." He added with a wink.

Cuddy raced up the stairs and found House asleep at his desk.

"House." She said urgently.

"I'm working!" he said springing up. When his eyes came into focus he realised who it was "Lisa?" he asked. "Did you come in here to come and ravage me on the desk?"

"No time for jokes Greg." She said with tears filling her eyes. He spotted them and limped forward.

"What's up?" he asked "and where is Toby? I thought you were picking him up from the sitter?"

"I did, he went up to bed...and...and..."

The tears spilled from Cuddy's eyes as she broke down.

"What's wrong with Toby?" House asked in a panic.

"He's got meningitis." Cuddy sobbed.

"Where is he?"

"With Doctor Hunter, they're going to do a lumbar puncture on his to confirm it."

"Why aren't you down there with him? You could've got the desk to call me."

"I just needed to see you." She said as she walked into his chest and pressed herself against him for protection. "I need you to say that everything's gonna be ok and Toby will be as right as rain soon."

"Don't worry." He replied as he cupped her face in his hand "he will be fine, House's have fight in them. If he's anything like you and me he won't bow down to anything."

They stayed in their embrace for another minute before they both made their way down to paediatrics to support their son in his fight against the deadly illness.

**What Toby has is bacterial Meningitis which as i researched can be fatal...so will i kill Toby off?**

**Could I be that mean?**

**Review Please :)**


	5. Turn For The Worse

Turn For The Worse

**Sorry i haven't written in like FOREVER, i've just had a huge writers block and i've been stuck for ideas. Anyway hopefully this chapter is showing that the writers block has been broken, also i tried to really get into the midset of House (hopefully it paid off, please tell me if it did)...so read on...**

House and Cuddy reached the paediatrics ward just in time to hold Toby's hand as they took the spinal fluid for the lumbar puncture.

He winced as the needle went in but Doctor Hunter felt the bore of House's eyes into the top of his head as he extracted the fluid, Doctor Hunter knew if he screwed up with the House's kid he'd be out of a job for sure.

"Just keep very still Toby. It'll be out soon, you're doing great." Doctor Hunter said as he flicked his eyes up to look at Cuddy and House who were staring intently at him.

"My head still hurts." Toby complained as he leant his head as far into his chest as he could. "Make it stop, where's Imo? She'll make it stop."

"Have you called her?" House asked Cuddy.

"No, I haven't called anyone. Toby is my main priority." Cuddy snapped.

"So you don't think my daughter has a right to know that her brother is ill?" House snapped back.

"Don't start House; you know I would never intentionally leave Imogen out the loop." Cuddy said warily.

"I'll go call her then." House replied storming off.

"You do that." Cuddy called after him. "It's gonna be ok sweetie." She smiled at Toby as she brushed his hair from his eyes.

Doctor Hunter had finished with the lumbar puncture and had sent it with a nurse down to the lab to be tested. He'd deliberately underlined the last name and written 'urgent' in big letters so that the lab technicians knew who they were dealing with.

It was now ten o'clock and Toby was dozing off to sleep when Cuddy felt his hand stiffen and then suddenly he began to violently jerk within the bed.

Cuddy looked on horrified like her brain had just shut off from all medical knowledge, all she could do was scream out and watch as the doctors injected him with antibiotics.

Toby's violent jerks became slower until they stopped and he looked in a peaceful sleep, that was when Doctor Hunter nodded showing that it was now safe for Cuddy to be near her son, Imogen had arrived just as the doctors were injecting Toby and the same look of horror was upon her face, she couldn't believe that her brother of all people would get this sick. House however remained stony faced, he wished that he could trade places with his son only in this moment in time; he'd rather be in the pain Toby was in than his own.

His pain started to feel more like a pinch compared to the agony that his son was going through and for once it made House feel useless. He knew what the diagnosis was and he son was started on the treatment but depending on how serious this seizure was there was nothing he could do to treat it.

He gave a deep sigh and rubbed his hand over his stubbled face, it felt like on yesterday that Toby had been a perfectly healthy baby, but now looking at him with a pale face and a crimson rash upon his skin it made his heart sink.

Of all the children in the entire world why did it have to be his child that contracted it? What had Toby done to deserve all of this?

There was no answer to his questions, nor had he expected someone to answer them for him but at a time like this he had to blame someone and the only person who he could blame and know that he wouldn't have to argue with was God.

House was not a religious man, nor did he believe in God, but it was easier to blame someone whom he didn't think was there rather than blame it on chance.

Chance was a far scarier ideal than the ideal of God. God was a person; God was someone that listened to everyone's problems, God was someone you could blame if your day had gone badly. Chance simply meant that it occurred because Toby was in the wrong place at the wrong time and that scared House more than ever, he didn't want to believe that at this point in time that Toby had contracted this at a roll of the dice, he felt he needed someone to personally to responsible so that he'd feel comfortable, so he'd feel like God was one of his Ducklings and that they'd screwed up.

He was brought back from his thoughts when Doctor Hunter was asking him a question.

"Is it ok to perform a CT scan to make sure that the seizure didn't cause any brain damage?"

"Yeah, sure. Just get him better." House replied gruffly as he let a tear slide from it's duct.

Imogen gave a squeeze of his hand and looked up at her father reassuringly.

"He's a fighter dad. You know it, I know it, Lisa knows it. He's going to pull through."

House seemed to ignore his daughter's supposed words of comfort and felt like he was drifting at his son's bedside down to the CT scanner.

Lisa was also drifting with him unsure of what she should be doing, all she knew is that she wasn't going to leave her son's bedside until he'd recovered fully, it didn't matter how long it took but he was going to get better even if she had to stay by him for years.

Imogen stood in the cubicle on her own feeling disconnected from her family, her dad was worried about his son, and so was Lisa. But Imogen felt hurt that they weren't taking her feelings into account, didn't they realise that she was hurting inside too? Didn't they know that she was as anxious as them for Toby's full recovery?

"_Obviously not." _Replied the voice in her head who had been chiding her today. "_Obviously your feelings aren't important enough because you're only his __**half**__ sister. They didn't even call you as soon as he was admitted. They waited until he got worse before notifying you about his consideration, they must've thought that you were too busy to be worried about your brother. But you weren't were you? You care about him as much as they do, but they can't see that."_

"Penny for your thoughts." Said a voice bringing her away from the nasty voice inside her head. Imogen looked up to see Doctor Hunter for the third time today.

"Oh, it's nothing." She replied losing the girlish attitude towards him.

"You're pretty cut up about your brother right?"

"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be going up with him, since he's your doctor and all?"

"I'll wait down here with you. It looked like you needed some company."

"It's fine seriously. I wouldn't be able to do much anyway. Might as well go home and wait for some news."

"You should stay, be that rock that your dad and Cuddy lean against."

"They're a bit too wrapped up in what's going on to need me."

"Don't say that."

"It's the truth Chris. Tell them to call me if Toby changes or anything." She said icily as she pulled her strap higher up her shoulder. "I'll see you in the morning."

"If you wanna talk" he called after her "you know where I am."

--------------------------

Back in the basement the results of Toby's CT scan were coming through.

"There are no lesions from what I can see but we'll need to be alert if he has anymore attacks." A young doctor called Danny told House and Lisa. "We also need to start him on intravenous fluids to cover the attack and to make sure that he hopefully won't have another seizure. We'll just have to see how he is when he wakes up."

"How long will it take for him to wake up?" Cuddy asked anxiously.

"I'd give it till the morning. If he doesn't wake up I think we'll need to have another CT scan just to make sure we haven't missed anything."

House gave a curt nod and Cuddy stood watery eyed.

Only the morning would be able to tell them if their son was on the road to recovery or whether he was going to take another turn for the worse.

**Yeah i'm a cowbag, i still haven't made up my mind whether i want him to live or die...**

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	6. Eyes Open

Eyes Open

**Hello my fantastic readers! I'm really truely sorry for my lack of updates but hopefully this little chapter is enough to keep you going!**

Imogen woke to the ringing of her alarm, at first she thought it was her phone ringing but it was only when Noah stretched out his arm to slam down on the alarm button, she realised that it was the alarm clock.

"Mornin'" Noah greeted her groggily, this was the first morning he'd seen her for ages.

"Morning." She said getting out from under the covers and padding towards the bathroom without even glancing at Noah.

"Is everything ok?" he asked concerned also getting out of bed.

"Yeah its fine." Imogen replied as she wiped the water that was dripping from her chin.

"If something was wrong you would tell me wouldn't you Imo?" Noah wrapped his arms around her waist and looked into the mirror to stare at them both.

"Yeah I would" she said shrugging him off. "I've gotta get to work."

--------------------------------------------

House woke up in his office. It wasn't the first time he'd ended up falling asleep in there, he couldn't be around sick people for too long, even his own son. All he'd been playing over in his mind was the image of his son pale and weakened on his hospital bed. Yet again the feeling of helplessness settled into the pit of his stomach, so far as he knew Toby hadn't had another seizure over night which was a good sign. However House still didn't know whether Toby had woken up either which worried him even more.

------------------------------

Cuddy was sprawled across the side of her son's bed. He hadn't had a seizure overnight which allowed her to have a relatively good night's sleep although she kept having dreams where Toby would never wake up and they would end with him fading into the darkness.

She hadn't seen House all evening and she was starting to worry about him too, Cuddy hadn't expected him to react so badly, he'd only spent a grand total of forty-five minutes with his wife and son all night and Cuddy was starting to get aggravated with his lack of support.

"Mummy?" came a murmur from her side.

"Tobe?" Cuddy replied looking over to her son.

"My throat hurts."

Cuddy was overwhelmed with tears as she scooped his weak figure into her arms.

"Mom, you're choking me."

"I'm sorry honey. I've just been so worried about you." She said burying her head into his shoulder.

"Where are dad and Imo? And can I have a glass of water?"

"Sure honey."

Cuddy handed her son a glass of water and he sipped at it gratefully.

"I've got a good idea where your father is. But for now I think I should get Dr. Hunter to give you a once over just to make sure there's nothing else wrong."

"Can you get dad and Imo as well please? I want to see them."

"I'll try Toby but I don't know what your sister is up to today."

Cuddy went off to find Dr. Hunter and House when Toby spotted a figure standing in his doorway.

"How are you?" they asked.

"I'm ok I suppose. Still feel kinda groggy."

"When did you wake up?"

"Just now. Mom's gone to go get the doctor and dad."

"Sorry I wasn't here for you when you got up." Imogen smiled.

"Dad wasn't here either."

"He's around. But you know him; he has to be away from the emotional strain. He hates showing his true feelings."

"Unlike Mom."

"Yeah, unlike Lisa." Imogen walked over to his bed and gave Toby a hug. "I love you Toby."

"Get off." Toby laughed as he feebly tried to push his sister away from him, his strength still hadn't return to his body.

In return Imogen ruffled his hair and tickled him under the arms.

"I don't think he's quite ready for that." Said an authoritive voice which made Imogen stop her from what she was doing.

"Oh, I'm erm sorry doctor Hunter." Imogen apologised.

"No need to apologise Imogen." He laughed "I'm glad to see that Toby's up and playing about, but just for now I need to check him over."

"I'll get back to my work." Imogen said as she went to leave the room.

"Isn't it your day off?" Dr. Hunter asked.

"Yeah but I thought whilst I was here I could get some more work done."

"Be careful Miss House I don't want you to get lost in your work."

"I won't Doctor Hunter. Just look after my brother, otherwise you'll have all the House's to deal with."

"He'll be my VIP."

Imogen left the room smiling only to be greeted by her father.

"He's awake?" House asked with a glint in his eye that Imogen had never seen before; it was the glint of relief, his son was going to be ok.

"Didn't Lisa tell you already?"

"I kinda guessed by the way she shouted at me."

"I really don't understand you two and I don't think I ever will." Imogen grasped her father's hand in her own and smiled at him. "But you do make the world's best parents." She then let go of his hand and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" House asked.

"To finish off my work."

"Isn't it your day off?"

"That's no excuse dad."

"In that respect you're exactly like your mother."

"Don't even mention her to me. Now go and sit with Toby, he's dying to see you."

"Don't mention that word."

"Just get in there." Imogen laughed.

-------------------------------------------

An hour later there was a tapping on her office door. It opened to reveal Dr. Hunter.

"Is he all good?" Imogen asked looking up from her paperwork.

"He's going to be weak for about a week or so but other than that he's perfectly fine."

"That's great." Imogen leant back in her chair and looked at him "thanks for all your help Dr. Hunter."

"It's Chris remember."

"Ok then. Thanks Chris."

Chris walked over and took her hand in his and raised it to his lips.

"It was my pleasure."

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	7. Caught Out

Caught Out

**I update! Lots of ideas in mind to come so please keep on reading.**

Imogen felt a hot flush running across her cheeks, was she really getting turned on by her boss? The great big smile plastered across her face.

That just confirmed it.

He moved closer to her now and she could smell the aroma of his aftershave.

"You know there is another way you could thank me Imogen." Chris said with a smile playing across his lips.

"How's that?" Imogen questioned with her legs feeling weak.

He moved even closer and his lips touched her own. This kiss was the guiltiest kiss she had ever taken part in, but the notion had not even entered her head.

The door was opened and her father limped in.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

Imogen instantly ripped her lips from Chris's and felt a flush across her face again, but this time it was of embarrassment, not flirtation.

"Well I er...Miss House...erm...good work...but you should erm...be getting home now. It is your day off." Chris mumbled as he left Imogen's office.

"Well that wasn't awkward at all." House smiled knowing he had the hugest bargaining tool over Imogen ever. "Although last time I looked he wasn't Noah."

"You know he wasn't Noah dad." Imogen replied shuffling through a load of papers so she didn't have to keep eye contact with House.

"So why were you kissing him then? Or is that the dementia settling in?"

"I wasn't kissing him."

"Your lips were on his, I think you were."

"It isn't how you saw it."

"Well I didn't see you put up a fight Emo, so it can't be sexual harassment."

"Don't call me that!" Imogen snapped looking into a set of eyes that were so similar to her own.

"I think your avoiding my question." House told her.

"Look dad, I don't need to talk to you about this...I've got a lot on my plate right now without you going on about a foolish yet innocent kiss."

"Innocent?" House scoffed "How'd you make that out?"

"Well I was thanking him for all his help with Toby."

"Wow, now why don't my patients show that kinda gratitude toward me? Well at least the hot ones."

"Coz you're an asshole dad."

He shrugged yet still remained on the topic of conversation.

"So what's on your plate then? You've got a good job, even if it isn't a doctor; you've moved in with your boyfriend, your brother is now fine, so what's wrong?"

"I'm engaged dad!" Imogen shouted "surprise. I was waiting for another time to tell you but here I am doing it true House style."

"Engaged? So how does that justify you kissing your boss?"

"Because I'm scared." Imogen said raising a palm to her head. "Spending the rest of my life with someone, that's scary."

"You've spent a big part of your life with Noah already, what's gonna change?"

"The fact that a commitment is going to become a life time commitment."

"Marriage isn't that bad Imogen. I mean me and Lisa do alright."

"But you were like forty when you got married I'm still in my twenties."

"How long have you been with Noah?"

"Nine years."

"Don't you think that it's a certainty in itself? What does it matter age wise when you get married?"

"I don't know. I'm just freakin' out."

"You know engagements can last however long you want them to be Imo."

Imogen laughed thinking about being twenty more years down the line and being engaged.

"Why did you need to keep this a secret from me?" House asked wrapping an arm around his daughter's shoulders.

"Because I never thought in a million years you'd be like this."

"You make me sound like I'd fly off the handle."

"Fatherly you just isn't someone I grew up with."

"Well maybe I grew up and you were too old to see it."

"Getting all philosophical are we dad?" Imogen teased.

"Shut up you, Toby wants to have a chat. I think me and Cuddy are going to bore him back into another coma."

"I'll come and be his saviour." Imogen smiled as she picked up her phone and some paperwork to take home. "Oh and dad..."

"Yeah honey."

"Please don't mention the engagement yet."

"My lips are sealed." House said with his fingers crossed behind his back.

As soon as she was gone, House needed to inform Wilson of his newly found gossip.

**Sorry this chapter is once again short but i needed some House/Imogen time. A nice lil chat to sort things out and some humour thrown in for House's part.**

**But next chapter i'm getting down and mucky with my triangle of lurve! Because once you've tasted something better it's hard to stop having more ;)**

**Review Please :)**


	8. Gossip Queens

Gossip Queens

**An update! "Finally" you say...read on**

As soon as the door started opening without so much as a knock James Wilson knew his guest was his best friend.

"You know knocking would be nice before you come in." He said without even glancing up from his work.

"Knocking wastes time. This is big." House said limping over to the couch and lying across it.

"What is?" Wilson asked intrigued. Obviously House had some juicy gossip to tell him otherwise he would've waited till lunch.

"Imo is engaged!" House exploded with excitement but by the look on his face, House hadn't finished.

"That's great House. You're gonna be poor Noah's father-in-law, but it looks like you have something else to say." Wilson said leaning forward.

"I just caught her kissing the head of paeds, Dr. Huntley or something."

"Chris Hunter?" Wilson asked surprised.

"That's the one." House smirked as he gulped a Vicodin pill.

"That is big. But aren't you supposed to be infuriated that your daughter has just cheated on her fiancé?"

"I blame you for that."

"Me?"

"Yeah, if she hadn't spent some of her early years around you, she wouldn't have known what cheating on someone is."

"Yeah, because I sat her down at the age of two and taught her the ins and outs of cheating on someone."

"Well I'm sure Joseph got the same speech."

"No, I did not teach my son how to cheat on someone. Neither have I taught your daughter those ways."

Both men sighed and paused in thought.

"Did she explain why she kissed him?" Wilson asked House.

"Because she was scared."

"Oh. That's not good."

"Why is that not good for the obvious reasons? I don't speak cheater lingo."

"Being scared is part of the reason why people cheat. Just keep a close eye on them House otherwise this'll get worse."

"Well what if I get a case? Then how am I gonna keep tabs on her?"

"I've got some friends at the Nurse's station. How about I get them to keep check on her?"

"Friends or lovers of yours?"

"I love my wife."

"You loved all your wives, didn't stop you cheating on them though."

"I am a settled man House and don't start this 'cheated on all my wives' speech. Julie cheated on me remember?"

"One out of three. How many did you cheat on? Two out of three was it? Actually Leanne might be cheating on you which would make it fifty-fifty."

"Shut up House. Haven't you got a daughter to be spying on?"

"It isn't spying. It's surveillance." House replied simply as he limped out the door.

---------------------------------------

_Two weeks later_

Monday morning rolled around and everything was back to normal. Noah was working the evening shifts, Imogen was working practically every day and Toby was back to full health. House was buried deep into a case and Cuddy was making sure that the hospital and her husband were in check.

Imogen hadn't seen much of Dr. Hunter since their kiss, but she saw it as a good thing, because it meant he tempt her to thinking anything else would happen. What she didn't appreciate was that nurses kept visiting her and asking about dosages for patients meds about ten times a day, sometimes she wished she could do it all for them, but then she wouldn't have got any of her paperwork done.

"Miss House?" asked a timid voice from the doorway. "How much Warfarin is Mrs Beckett taking?"

"It depends on her blood pressure Becky, but I deal with paediatric patients, not geriatric patients."

"Oh sorry. But how much does she need?"

"Give me the chart." Imogen snapped. She snatched it out of Becky's grasp and looked up. "Three milligrams. But next time ask the doctor in charge of that ward."

"Sorry to bother you Miss House. I'll remember in future."

The office door closed and Imogen had had enough, the nurses were driving her to insanity and what she thought they deserved was a little payback for wasting her time.

Imogen walked over to the Nurse's station and leant over the desk casually, she called over Olivia, a fairly new nurse to the team and said,

"I've just been told there's a chicken pox outbreak in a school, patients coming into the clinic will be arriving shortly. There's been a request for all the nurses on this floor to go and prepare for them."

"Oh no." Olivia said now panicking as she scurried off to inform the nurses.

"Peace and quiet." Imogen smirked as she walked over to Dr. Hunter's office.

She tapped on the door and heard a muffled voice asking her to come in.

"Oh, Imogen. Is there a problem?" Dr. Hunter asked looking up at her.

"No problem, just wanted to see if you've got anything for me to do, I've finished my work."

"You really are a hard worker. You got the work Friday, had the weekend off and finished already."

"What can I say?" Imogen shrugged with a smile playing on her lips. "I'm just very efficient."

"To be honest I thought you would've wanted to avoid me."

"Why's that?"

"Because of you know...and your dad catching us. I thought there'd be some awkwardness."

"It was just one stupid kiss. It didn't mean anything right?"

"No no, of course not." Dr. Hunter replied as he felt his muscles relax.

"Well if there isn't anything better to do, I better do...something. I'm sure you're swamped with work."

She leant over the desk to shake his hand and he rose up and kissed her on the cheek.

Silence echoed throughout the room and they remained as they were, Imogen moved her head and her lips found his.

One seemingly innocent kiss had turned into a second more deadly kiss in the spiral down into unfaithfulness.

**Review Please :)**


	9. Trouble

Trouble

**Thanks to all who reviewed and story alerted, you all prodded me to get back to writing this. So i hope you enjoy it :)**

Cuddy looked outside of her office and found at least twenty nurses standing about in the Clinic looking like they were waiting for something. She furrowed her eyebrows and got up from her desk to ask them why they weren't doing their job, she was sure this wasn't a strike otherwise she would've had a representative informing her of what was going on.

Cuddy grabbed one of the nurses and she winced under the glare of the Dean of Medicine.

"What's going on here?" Cuddy asked.

"We were told there's been a chickenpox outbreak in a school so we had to be ready for when the children arrive." The nurse replied.

"Who told you this information?"

"Miss House told Olivia, who told all the nurses on the paeds floor."

"Go back to paediatrics." Cuddy demanded, "I'll deal with Miss House."

The young nurse nodded and as the message spread, the clinic started to empty and only patients remained as they waited to be seen.

Cuddy stormed over to the lift and stabbed the button for the second floor with her forefinger, Imogen was going to be in trouble and she'd have to discuss this behaviour with House to see if he'd been in on it. Being her step-mother came second when it was in regards to running the hospital and she wasn't going to allow Imogen to get away with the stupid stunt she'd pulled.

She didn't even let her own husband get away with the stunts he'd pulled.

She knocked on Imogen's office and there was no answer, she knocked again and pushed the door open to find it empty. She folded her arms and had a hunch that she might be talking with Doctor Hunter, she supposed as they were colleagues and the way he'd been singing her praises the other day that his office would be the closest place to look.

As she left Imogen's office she spotted her exiting Doctor Hunter's office looking shifty, Imogen's blonde hair was slightly ruffled and her shirt looked wrinkled but she put it to the back of her mind whilst she reminded herself that she was here to punish her, not to ask about her social life.

Imogen spotted Cuddy at her door and inwardly grimaced, no doubt her father had told his wife everything about what he'd seen between her and Chris, he just couldn't keep a secret.

"Hey Lisa." She said as she waved over to her.

"The cutesie stuff doesn't work on me anymore Imogen. Do you know what you've done?"

"Forgotten to take my tablets this morning?" she replied trying to draw out her fake innocence as much as possible.

"Wrong. What the hell did you think you were doing when you told the nurses on your floor that there was a chicken pox outbreak?"

Imogen gave an inward sigh of relief and her face turned into one of annoyance.

"All they've been doing in the last couple of weeks is querying everything about medication, like I'm the only person who can prescribe pills! I'm supposed to be dealing with _my_ work, not everyone else's."

"That still gives you no right to pull a stunt like that! What are you? Sixteen?"

"I pulled a practical joke, so what?"

"You left your own floor with no nursing staff for twenty minutes. It's havoc, I'm suspecting that I will have angry patients queuing outside my office demanding to know why their child went without care."

"Complaints are part of your job; dad's had tons more complaints I don't see you giving him a hefty lecture."

"Your dad only deals with one patient a month. Nurses deal with more than one patient every hour."

"It was just a joke taken too far; can I go back to work now?"

"I'm going to have to take this to the board Imogen."

"The board? Why?" she gasped, she didn't realise that her actions would reciprocate such consequences.

"You wasted the nurses and the patient's time and you're going to accept the punishment from your actions, you have to grow up. Just because you're House and Anna's daughter and my step-daughter, it doesn't void you from anything that you do."

"I never thought it'd void me from anything," Imogen explained in a hurry "but it can't be this serious I mean no one died did they?"

"Luckily for you."

"I'm sorry. I'll do clinic duty, I'll do dad's paperwork, I'll do _your_ paperwork, just please don't present me to the board. It'll never happen again. I promise you."

Cuddy looked at Imogen who was pulling a face of desperation and remorse. No one had died but Imogen had to learn from her mistake, so she thought of the perfect punishment.

"You have to work with House on his next case."

"Anything but _that!_"

"It's that or a board meeting, which unfortunately will include your mother."

Imogen was torn between the two worst options in the world. The board meeting would been that she would face possible suspension and have to plead her case in front of her mother who would surely berate her and happily endorse the idea of maybe even striking her off if she were feeling especially mean.

But then the idea of working with her father seemed torture as well. He would probably make references to fact that she wasn't a real doctor, and undermine every opinion just because she was his daughter; she knew he wouldn't want to show favouritism.

However would being jobless be worth not working with her father? She knew the answer would be no before she'd even asked herself the question.

In a sigh of defeat Imogen informed Cuddy of her decision. "I'll work with him."

"He'll be so happy." Cuddy smiled, "I'll drop by on my way to apologising for your mistake."

"Thanks Lisa" she replied dejectedly before she walked into her office. Once she was in there she put her head in her hands and let the abnormal silence of the office add to the feeling of self pity.

Starting from tomorrow she'd be entering her personal hell, and her father's personal heaven. She had a feeling that ever since she'd announced the direction she wanted her medical career to go in, House would be waiting for the day when she'd be forced to work on his team and then he could let the taunting begin.

How right she was

--

Once the hospital had wound down Cuddy made her way to her husband's office, she found him like she normally did, his chair facing away from the door, legs propped up against a filing cabinet and his iPod turned on loud to drown out everyone else's voice's.

She stood next to his chair and touched his shoulder lightly.

"I wondered when I'd be expecting you." He smiled as he turned the volume down a fraction.

"Have you heard what your daughter has been up to today?"

"You caught her did you? Thank god for that, I was going to burst if you didn't catch them any sooner."

"Catch who?"

"Imogen and the guy who looked after Toby."

"Doctor Hunter?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"What do you mean caught them?"

"You didn't catch them did you?"

"What are you going on about?" Cuddy asked with a raised eyebrow. It seemed that Imogen was getting into more trouble than she first thought.

"I'm sworn to secrecy." House replied as he imitated a zip being pulled across his mouth.

"You told Wilson didn't you?"

"I may have done...I may have told him because I needed advice."

"Marital advice?"

"Not that kind of advice, why would I need pointers from him? He's already in his fourth marriage."

"I'm not in the mood for puzzles, so I'll just tell you _what else_ your daughter's been up to."

"I'm all ears."

"She told all the nurses on her floor that there was a chicken pox outbreak in the clinic."

"Why'd she do that?"

"Because nurses keep asking her about unrelated medication, would that have something to do with you?"

"And why would you think that? I don't even talk to the nurses!"

"Which leads me to think that Wilson asked them to bug her."

"Who knows." House shrugged.

"Well as punishment she has to work with you on your next case."

House's face lit up with glee and he turned off his music. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" he asked.

"Not today."

"I'm totally looking forward to getting a case tomorrow."

"I thought you would be." Cuddy smiled "Come on, we've gotta get home for Toby."

"Send him to bed early?" House asked eagerly.

"If you play your cards right."

"I knew I married you for some reason."

**House/Cuddy at the end for ya!**

**Review Please :) (it makes me update faster :P)**


	10. Argument

Argument

**Bit of a faster update then last time so i hope your happy :)**

House made sure he was in especially early the next day.

He'd made sure that he had a chestful of charts from the ER and the clinic, and he'd made Wilson carry them up for him.

"Why have you got so many charts? And why are you in early?" Wilson asked his friend suspiciously. For House to come early was reason to cause suspicion, but for him to have a stack of cases was a reason to cause panic.

"Because I'm a doctor and I like my job." Was House's reply, he's smug smile could not be any bigger at this moment in time.

"Who are you and what have you done with House?"

"Imogen got the best punishment ever yesterday."

"What, for the chicken pox stunt?"

"Uhuh."

"Well don't leave me hanging, what is it?"

"She has to work with me on a case." He told him gleefully.

"Ouch, who gave her that?"

"My wonderful wife."

"I didn't think she had it in her to give Imogen such an inhumane punishment."

"All those years of being married to me must have brought out her dark side."

"Or just brought out her evil genius."

"Either way I find it totally sexy. Imogen should pull more stunts like that. Maybe I should tell her about them kissing."

"Don't you dare House, Imogen will hate you."

"It was just an idea. But it sounds like you're endorsing her affair, are you swelling up with pride because she's taking after you?"

"I am not endorsing it, and I'm not proud of what she's doing either." Wilson snapped.

"Have you had your morning coffee yet? You seem a bit tetchy."

They'd reached House's office and Wilson dumped the charts on the floor, he walked away without saying goodbye but nothing could change House's feeling of happiness this morning.

He spotted Cameron and Foreman in the conference room, Cameron answering his mail as always and Foreman reading a journal about neurology.

'So predictable.' He thought to himself.

House opened his door and Cameron jumped out of her seat.

"Need a little help in here."

Foreman raised an eyebrow and looked over at Cameron who showed signs of movement.

"Why are you here?" Foreman asked.

"Because I work here duh."

"I mean why are you here this early?"

"Because Toby wanted me to take him to school." House lied "now can someone help me?"

"With what?"

"What is this? The Spanish Inquisition? I already had Wilson asking me these types of questions like five minutes ago."

"You're acting oddly, we just want to know why."

"I'll help." Cameron said, she was trying to get House in her good books before finding out for herself what he was up to.

"Thank you _Cameron_" House replied as he moved aside so she could enter his office.

Once she came back with the huge stack of charts Foreman raised his eyebrow again and started questioning House to his displeasure.

"What are those?"

"You graduated from Johns Hopkins and you don't know what these are? Maybe you're still a little messed up from that neglaria."

"The only messed up person here is you House."

Chase walked in to find his boss and his colleague in the middle of an argument so he decided to stay away and sit next to Cameron.

"What's going on? He whispered in her ear.

"House is in early and he has cases and Foreman wants to know why." She whispered back, with her eyes on House.

"So do I for that matter."

The arguing only stopped when Imogen walked in the room.

"What's going on?" she asked as she put her bag on the table. She would've been in earlier but she'd got caught up in a good morning kiss with Chris.

"You're late." House said focusing his attention on his daughter instead of Foreman.

"Traffic." Imogen shrugged.

"More like you were wasting time reapplying your make up."

"Is that what makes you late every morning dad?" Imogen retorted with a snarl.

"No, it's Cuddy asking me for more sex."

"An extra ten seconds of sex every morning isn't going to make you late is it now?"

The tension in the room escalated as the squabble between father and daughter had now gotten heated.

"Who's bed were _you_ in last night Emo? Hunter's or Noah's?" he asked with venom.

Cameron gasped and Chase's mouth dropped open, Foreman dipped his head and waited for it to be over.

"I'd rather face the medical board than this." Imogen said slowly as she tried to focus on not crying, it was a harder task than she thought.

She grabbed her bag and ran out the room.

"Go follow her." House told Cameron.

"What's this about Doctor Hunter?" she asked.

"None of your business just go and find her."

"Wouldn't it be better if –"

"Just find her will you!"

"I'll go." Wilson said from the conference room doorway. "I think she needs the more stable father figure to talk to her right now."

"Will you tell her I'm sorry?"

"No."

Wilson left to find Imogen and House retreated to his office.

He'd gone and screwed it up big time, and he wasn't sure if his daughter was going to forgive him.

**It's only a shortie but i bet you're wondering how he could say that to her, do you think they'll make up in the next chapter?**

**You'll have to wait and see won't you :D**

**Review Please :)**


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